2010 Mar 10 April Fu's Day: One Kuai Drinks at Fubar
Fubar boss Chad Lager thrives on schemes and promotions that seem like madness. He launched Cinco de Drinko at Saddle Cantina, giving away half-price drinks for a whole day on the 5th of every month. Later, after moving to Tun, he did the unthinkable and started a ladies' night on Fridays - in Beijing nightlife, this was the equivalent of declaring the world to be round in medieval times. Both ideas worked. Then Chad went off to open Fubar, a "speakeasy" cocktail bar priding itself on large pours, quality drinks and good prices. All very sensible. Were Chad's days of dreaming up insane promotions over?
Not quite. Chad called the other day, exclaiming "I think I have a story for you ..." He did. On April 1, Chad and the Fubar team will launch the bar's latest innovation, Fu Fu Fool's Day. From 7-9pm that night, Chad will be serving up RMB 1 "mojito martinis" (that's actually a mojito made with vodka instead of rum). RMB 1. One kuai. For a drink. Chad tells us that Fu Fu Fool's Day will be a monthly promotion - on the first day of every month, customers can get those RMB 1 drinks for two hours.
Chad knows this is mad. He knows he'll have to deal with masses of customers offloading raggedy old one kuai notes on him. He knows Fubar's secret door might just get kicked down once and for all by hordes of people swarming from all corners of Beijing, but he seems to relish the prospect. If I watched this story on the news, I'd assume it was an April Fool's joke. It can't be, can it? No, it's got to be true - with Chad Lager and his drinks promotions, there's no joking around.
Fu Fu Fool's Day launches on Apr 1 at 7pm. Fubar (6593 8227)
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